


How Far Could A Raft Take Us?

by Six_Piece_Chicken_McNobody



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 15:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18479557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Six_Piece_Chicken_McNobody/pseuds/Six_Piece_Chicken_McNobody
Summary: Sora, Kairi, and Riku attempt to sail away from Destiny Islands on their raft. It goes as well as anyone could have realistically expected.





	How Far Could A Raft Take Us?

**Author's Note:**

> After sixteen years, I finally _thought_ about the ingredients Kairi sent Sora out to collect. And man, are they weird.

The sun was warm, the sky was clear, and the breeze was lively. Sora stood at the bow, gripping the mast and pointing decisively at the horizon. “And we’re off!”

He held that pose as the tide nudged them gently back toward the shore, only dropping his arm when Riku jumped off the raft to push. He got them past the breaking surf, and when Kairi hauled him back on board, Sora resumed his pose with twice the amount of heroic resolve as before. “And we’re _off_!”

“Thanks, Sora,” Riku said as he squeezed the water from his hair. “That’s a huge help.”

“Hey, I’m boosting morale. Gotta keep our spirits up for the journey ahead.” Sora sat cross-legged on the raft, an impressive feat given the size of his shoes. “Speaking of which…is it too soon to break into the supplies, Kairi?”

“Depends,” she said, dragging the bag to the center of the raft. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

“Thirsty.”

“Then yes, it’s too soon. We need to make the bottle last.”

“Bottle?” Riku repeated, pausing with his fists closed around a lock of hair. “As in, _one_ bottle?”

Instead of answering, Kairi dug through the bag. She presented a single bottle, full of fresh water from the island spring, and held it out of reach when Sora made a grab for it.

“That’s it?” Riku said as he shook his hair more or less back into place. “That…could be a problem.”

“Really?” Kairi asked, inspecting the bottle. “How long do you think it’ll take to get to a new world?”

“I dunno. But, I mean…even if it only takes one day, we’re gonna need more water than that. Seriously, what gives? Are we sharing all our supplies?”

“ _No_ ,” Kairi said. “Give us _some_ credit, Riku. Sora worked really hard yesterday to gather food for each of us.”

“Okay,” Riku said, showing his palms, trying to appease both Kairi and Sora’s indignation at once—no easy task. “Sorry. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

Kairi produced three fish from the bag and laid them in a row. Sora smiled proudly. Riku stared.

“O…kay.” He scratched the side of his head, genuinely puzzled. “I mean, there _are_ three, so…good job on that, I guess. But we’re in the ocean. Why would you even put these on the list, let alone go to the trouble of catching them a day in advance?”

“Look, if you don’t want your fish, Sora can have it. He’s always hungry.” Kairi reached for the fish closest to Riku and drew her hand back in surprise when he snatched it up.

“No. Don’t touch my fish, Kairi. I didn’t say I didn’t want it.” She rolled her eyes as Riku protectively put the fish down in front of him, just out of their reach. “All right,” he went on, “what else?”

Kairi laid out three coconuts, which got a nod of approval from Riku. “Nice. More drinking water, at the very least.”

When she displayed the rest of their rations, however, he faltered. The raft drifted on the ocean’s surface, and Kairi and Sora waited expectantly while Riku stared at the single bottle of water, the fish, the coconuts, the three large mushrooms, and a speckled seagull egg the size of his torso. He raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, but stopped halfway and gestured at the supplies instead. “Okay, guys. What the hell.”

“Whoa, what?” Sora said, defensive of both the grocery list Kairi had assembled and his own efforts in collecting the provisions. “This is a good spread, right?”

“No?” Riku said, his confusion taking on a twinge of concern. “What am I even supposed to _make_ with this?”

Kairi and Sora exchanged blank looks. They turned to Riku again and said—plainly, as if the ingredients spoke for themselves—“Mushroom omelettes.”

Riku rubbed his face with both hands, trying to erase the preposterous spread of ingredients from his mind’s eye. “All right. We need to go back and get some real food. Good thing we haven’t left the shoals yet, because _some_ people don’t know how to properly rig up a sail.”

“Excuse me,” Kairi said, the polite words belying her aggressive tone, “I did an _excellent_ job with the sail.”

“I know, but Sora doesn’t know what he’s doing here, and now there’s a knot in the ropes that I can’t untangle.”

“Hey, my dad taught me how to _tie_ knots, not how to _un_ tie them.”

“ _Look_ ,” Riku said. “Let’s just get this thing turned around. Can you at least do that, Sora?”

“How?”

“With the rudder, _duh_ ,” Kairi said, putting the supplies away. She paused with her arm halfway in the bag, noticing Sora’s worryingly blank stare. “…the rudder I told you to attach? Specifically?”

Sora glanced at the blatantly rudderless stern, and then looked at Kairi again, nervously scratching the back of his head. “So…here’s the thing—”

Whatever excuse he’d been about to flounder his way through was mercifully cut off by a loud splash. Both Sora and Kairi glanced at the stern, and they saw Riku in the water again, this time making a break for the shore.

“Whoa, hey—Riku!” Sora called, but Riku was well on his way, arm over head, arm over head. Sora sighed at his recklessness—at least they weren’t far from the beach. “Man,” he said with a little chuckle, turning to Kairi. “Y’think he might be mad at us or somethi—”

Sora hadn’t realized that a splash could sound passive-aggressive until Kairi followed Riku’s lead and dove into the water herself. “Oh, come on, guys!” Sora cried from the bobbing raft as his friends made a beeline back to the island. “At least take the coconuts! They’re buoyant—they double as flotation devices!”

Neither one of them turned around, and with a defeated sigh, Sora patted the mast fondly, held his nose, and abandoned ship.

* * *

It took quite a while for the raft to disappear over the horizon. The trio sat together on the paopu tree and watched every second of its journey, partly out of loyalty, and partly as penance for their hubris.

“It’s getting some distance,” Kairi remarked, and Sora nodded, looking impressed. Riku was still sulking, but by the time the sun dried his hair and the raft sailed out of sight, he admitted that it was nice to know the thing was seaworthy after all.

“See?” Sora said brightly. “This wasn’t a waste of time. It was a learning experience.”

“And what did we learn?” Kairi asked.

“That rafts need rudders.”

“That Sora didn’t know that rafts need rudders,” Riku added.

“And I learned that Riku swims _really_ fast when he’s pissed off,” Kairi said. Riku gave her a fake glare, which was met with an overly innocent smile.

“You know,” he began, “I also learned that Kairi’s smart enough to know the raft needed a rudder, but not smart enough to make sure it was actually _attached_ before we set sail.”

“To be fair, we all dropped the ball with that,” Sora pointed out. “We were just too excited to get going.” Riku cocked his head in a half-nod.

“All right, you know what? That’s fair. I’ll take a third of the blame on that one.” Sora and Kairi low-fived, and then again, swapping the position of their hands. Riku sighed. “But guys, come on… _mushroom omelettes_? Were you high or something?”

“I thought they’d be nice!” Sora said. “They’re filling and nutritious, and they’re a great source of protein.”

“How would I even _cook_ them?” Riku asked, gesturing at the water. “I mean, think about it. How would I cook _mushroom omelettes_ , on a _wooden raft_ , in the middle of the _ocean_?”

They sat in silence for a few moments, pondering what was a very valid question. Finally, Kairi said, “I could really go for a mushroom omelette right now.”

“Same here,” Sora said, his stomach grumbling right on cue.

A few more moments passed before Riku sighed again. “I’ll get a fire going.”

Kairi hopped off the lopsided tree and stretched her arms over her head. “I’ll hit the cove.”

Sora was already preparing for his job, shaking his legs loose and rolling his shoulders as he sized up the nearest palm tree. “And I’ll get the egg.”


End file.
